"Well, Severus, this is it. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll love Hogwarts."
"Mum, I don't want to go. Can I just stay home and be schooled?" Severus Snape asked.
"Going to Hogwarts will be good for you, Severus. We've already had this conversation, and I know you'll find friends here. It won't be like your last school," Joanne Snape told her son.
Severus doubted it. He was a short, unattractive eleven year old with slippery straight black hair, a hooked nose, and he had a huge acne problem. On top of all this, he was very shy and his peers had tormented him at his grade, non-magical, school since he was eight years old.
Still, even though he was unattractive and shy, he was very brilliant. He made top marks in all of his classes, and he was sure he could do the same at Hogwarts.
He was somewhat hopeful that the Hogwart's students would treat him differently, but time had taught him not to get his hopes up. But this time he was ready. When he turned 10, he was determined not to let those bullies bully him anymore, so he learned many curses to ward them off. Needless to say, they had not bothered him anymore, especially after he gave Eric a bad case of butterflies in his stomach, literally.
Also, he got bored with all of his other classes. He already knew the material his classes would cover from reading his class books by the first couple of weeks. Learning all of those curses gave him something to do in those lonely hours when his mum had to work overtime at the Muggle grocery store just to get enough money to pay for living expenses. His mother didn't know about him learning curses; she would have put a stop to it instantly. Severus did not like to go behind his mother's back, whom he usually kept no secrets from, but he silenced his conscience by telling himself that he needed to do something to defend himself from being beaten up till he was black and blue. Besides, he was going to learn them at Hogwarts anyway.
The train whistle on Hogwart's Express blew loudly like a bell tolling him to the underworld.
"Alright, we had better get closer to the train," his mother said.
Severus had all of his school supplies and an owl he named Pirate; he was reading Treasure Island when he got his owl. He knew he wouldn't be able to even go to Hogwarts without his Uncle Tom's help. Uncle Tom had often helped support his nephew since he was well off and had no sons, only daughters. Severus's Mother could not have bought all of these things for him. She had to work at a Muggle grocery store because the wizard ice cream shop she used to work at went out of business, and she couldn't find anything else. She still couldn't; it was hard to find jobs for Herbology majors, which is what she was.
They had been very excited when Severus got his acceptance letter. Especially his mother since Hogwarts was where she went. There she was sorted into the Hufflepuff house. She had always said the best times of her life were spent there, and Severus could tell they were because her often sad black eyes would shine with excitement when she spoke of her friends at Hogwarts. She was sure it would be the same for Severus.
"Okay, give me a hug, dear. I'll owl you often," his mother said.
Severus gave his tall and very thin mother a hug, wishing that he didn't have to leave her. "Goodbye, Mum, I'll always write you back."
"You better or I'll be lonely and worried," his mother replied. Her eyes suddenly began to tear up and she said, "Look at you, all grown up and going to the best wizarding school there is. Make your Mum and Uncle Tom proud," she said in a quivering voice.
"I will," Severus hurriedly replied, a little embarrassed about his mum's show of emotion.
The train whistle blew for the final time as Severus climbed the stairs up to the train. The train started moving suddenly, and Severus waved goodbye to his mother until she was a tiny dot standing at the barrier.
He sighed and thought, 'well, I guess I better find a spot to sit.'
He lugged his trunk behind him and opened the door to the first compartment he saw. Inside was a girl with short, dark red hair and brilliant emerald green eyes.
She smiled when she saw him and said, "Come on in, I was beginning to wonder whether anyone would join me."
"Alright," Severus said, sitting down in the seat across from her.
Wow, she's really pretty, he thought, but ignored the thought and pushed it into the back of his mind.
"I'm Lily Evans," she said smiling. "What's your name?"
"Severus Snape," he replied quietly.
"Pleased to meet you, Severus. I'm so excited about going to Hogwarts. I didn't even know the school existed until I got the acceptance letter on my 11th birthday. My parents were thrilled, but I think my sister, Petunia, thought I was even more odd. Oh well, so do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"No," he replied.
His father left his mother when Severus was just a baby. His mother said it was because he needed freedom, but Severus knew now that it was because he ran off with another woman. It had always been just his mum and him.
Severus hated his father for what he did, and had never met him. He didn't even know his father's name. But if Severus ever did, he made a vow to get revenge somehow; even if that meant killing him. Severus wanted to punish his father for what he did to his mum. He had no right to leave her especially with their new baby, only for a woman with a larger chest! Cowardly scum like him had no right to live in Severus's vengeful mind.
"Oh, siblings can be a trifle sometimes, consider yourself lucky," Lily said.
"So what are your interests?" Lily continued with excitement, "Mine are sports and animals."
'I wish I could be that excited about going to school,' thought Severus.
"I guess I like reading," he replied quietly, and the dark arts, he thought to himself.
"Reading, oh yes, I also love to read. In fact I just…"
But she didn't get a chance to finish because suddenly two other boys banged the compartment door open and were laughing hysterically.
"My goodness, you gave us a startle," Lily said.
"Sorry about that. Sirius Black here just pulled a great prank!" Said the one boy with glasses and the messiest hair Severus had ever seen.
The other boy, Sirius, had a long face with dark hair and eyes and a tan.
"What in the world did you do?" Lily asked Sirius.
"Don't tell anybody," Sirius replied, sniggering, "but I just stole Shawn Avery's school uniform and switched it with only a pink cloak that belongs to my little sister."
"We don't like Shawn Avery," explained the boy with the messy hair and brown eyes, "we went to grade school with him. He's just a stupid git who thinks he knows everything."
"Oh," Lily said sounding concerned. "That sounds a little mean though?"
"No, not for him," the boy replied.
Severus could tell instantly that he didn't like them. He had always thought of himself as a good judge of character (he also had a tendency to judge people as soon as he met them) and these two seemed to enjoy pulling mean tricks on people they didn't like, just because they could, with no thoughts or feelings about the person they picked on. 'Just like those bullies who picked on me,' Severus thought.
"Well, anyway, my name is Lily Evans, and this is Severus Snape."
"Hello," they both said together.
"My name is James Potter," said the boy with the messy hair and brown eyes.
"Pleased to meet you, both," Lily said. "Are you both from wizard families? I'm from a Muggle family."
"We're both from wizard families," Sirius replied in a rich snotty tone.
Everyone laughed except Severus. 'So they're show offs too,' he thought. 'Oh yeah you think you're so funny, ha ha. You only do stupid stuff to make people laugh because you two probably have brains the size of peas.'
"So what about you, Severus, are you from a wizard or Muggle family?"
"Wizard family," Snape replied in a leave-me-alone tone of voice.
Obviously James didn't catch the tone because he asked, "Then how come I have never heard of your family?" James asked.
That question got under Severus's skin. 'Ohh, so his family must be important, so they don't pay attention to the poor riff-raff, as they call them, like my mother,' he thought. 'Well, James Potter, if you think I'm going to be all nice to you just because of your big family name, then you've got another thing coming.'
"Maybe it's because your family is probably just a bunch of snobs!" Severus snapped back.
"Okay, okay, I was just wondering," James replied, giving a look of sudden dislike to Severus.
For the rest of the train trip James, Sirius, and Lily were talking and laughing together. Lily tried to include Severus by asking him questions. He replied to all her questions, and appreciated it, but he didn't feel like talking to those two big head showoffs.
In fact, Severus had never met anyone like Lily who actually seemed to want to talk to him, beside his family. He decided he liked her, and hoped that they would be in the same house.
The train finally stopped, and Severus and the other students had pulled their robes on.
As he stepped off the train, he saw a huge figure yelling, "Firs' years over here!"
Severus and Lily headed over to the huge man with James and Sirius following.
There was a boy asking everyone in the crowd where his school uniform was. Severus assumed this was Shawn Avery, judging by how James and Sirius were sniggering and pointing at him, and how he was the only student with no uniform on.
"Now," the huge hairy faced man said, "we are goin' across the lake on boats cause it's a tradition at Hogwarts. Don' worry about paddilin' cause the boats move on their own."
There was a sudden rush of students as they hurried to get the boats closest to the front.
"Come on, Severus, hurry!" Lily yelled as she grabbed his hand and ran to a boat second row from the first row of boats.
James and Sirius jumped in with them, much to Severus's disappointment.
The boats started moving on their own across the smooth, glassy lake, and as they rounded the curve, Severus got his first look at Hogwarts. The school was huge and magnificent looking with hundreds of windows and steep towers.
'Maybe, just maybe, this school won't be so bad,' thought Severus hopefully.
"Wow! I've never seen such an incredible building," James said in an awed voice.
"I'm so excited, I can hardly sit still," Lily said, her eyes wide with excitement.
Sirius just sat there staring, open mouthed.
The boats went through a dark tunnel, and the students got out of their boats when they stopped. They headed through a door into an empty room where they were told to wait for further instructions.
Everyone looked nervous, and Severus was no exception with his insides squirming like crazy, and his palms starting to sweat. Everyone, Severus noticed, except one pale boy in the corner who looked cool and undaunted as though this were just another normal day.
Suddenly, the door banged open and in the doorway stood a very severe looking woman with square glasses, and hair in a tight bun that looked as though it had been permanently plastered to her head that way.
"I am Professor McGonagall," she introduced herself. "Now, line up and follow me, quietly," she ordered.
They all followed, wondering worriedly about what would happen next. She came to a stop at a pair of huge double doors and as she opened one door, the screech echoed throughout the huge entrance hall. She bid them to line up and enter.
As Severus entered, his eyes almost fell out of his head. The Great Hall was a huge, magnificent room with four very long tables, he assumed they were the house tables, and candles floating over their heads.
Severus was amazed, but felt very self-conscience that all of the eyes were looking at him; the unattractive skinny boy.
Everyone lined up in front of the professors table, and Professor McGonagall placed a very ragged looking hat on a stool.
Everyone's eyes went to the hat, and suddenly, the hat's brim opened up and it started singing a song about the founders of Hogwarts, and how he could judge which house would suit each student the best.
"Now then," McGonagall said. "As I call out your name you will each come up here and place the hat on your head, and then go to the house table he assigns you to."
"Anette, Sharon," she called.
A very timid looking girl walked up and placed the hat on her head.
"RAVENCLAW!" the hat yelled after a few seconds.
The second table from the left cheered loudly for her as she went to join them.
"Avery, Shawn," she called out next.
A tall boy went walking straight up to the hat, with his Muggle clothes still on, who was fair skinned with sandy colored hair and green eyes.
McGonagall stopped the boy and asked why he didn't have his uniform on.
He replied he didn't know and all he found was a little girl's pink robes in his bag, amidst sniggers coming from James and Sirius. Shawn suddenly turned to them and gave them a dirty look as McGonagall reprimanded Shawn and told him to come to her office after the feast. Then she allowed him to continue with the sorting.
Shawn sat there with the hat on his head looking very ill-tempered, and embarrassed when the hat yelled out, "SLYTHERIN!"
Severus heard James say, "No surprise there," as the table on the far side of the Great Hall erupted into cheers.
Lily stood in front of Severus, squirming with excitement. Severus stood there suddenly feeling very hot and shaky. His palms were still sweating, but James and Sirius looked relatively calm as they stood in front of Lily, whispering back and forth, probably about Shawn.
"Black, Sirius," McGonagall called.
Black went up to the hat with a grin on his face, and put it on his head. The hat yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!"
The table closest to Snape cheered loudly for Sirius , their first Gryffindor, as he walked over grinning from ear to ear.
"Clark, Brandon"…"RAVENCLAW!" "Daren Drikle"…"GRYFFINDOR!"
"Evans, Lily," McGonagall called.
Lily gave Severus a nervous smile before she walked up to the hat.
She put it on her head and it yelled out, "GRYFFINDOR!" after only a few seconds.
The Gryffindor table yelled and cheered for her as she skipped over and sat next to Sirius.
I wonder which house I'll be put in, Severus wondered as he watched Lily talking and laughing with the other Gryffindors.
"Fackenthal, Jeremy!"…"HUFFLEPUFF!" "Figgs, Arabella!"…"GRYFFINDOR!" "Grint, Rupert!"…"RAVENCLAW!"
Several other names were called out as Severus looked at the bewitched ceiling that was clear and full of stars like the night sky outside.
"Lupin, Remus," she called
A pale short boy with light brown hair and green eyes came forward looking extremely nervous as he stepped up to the hat. He was shaking as the hat was on his head.
"GRYFFINDOR!" it yelled.
Gryffindor cheered for him, and Remus looked like he was about to cry from happiness as he sat down at the table.
Severus then looked up at the teachers' table and saw Dumbledore in the center. He was watching the sorting through his half-moon spectacles, his long silver hair shining.
"Malfoy, Lucius," McGonagall called.
The pale boy that Severus saw earlier walked up to the hat very calmly with a smirk on his face.
The hat yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" in less than half a second.
Lucius walked over to the Slytherin table with a glint in his cold gray eyes as the Slytherin table cheered very loudly.
'I wish I could be that calm,' thought Severus as his palms were still sweating like crazy.
Several more names were called, and Severus was getting more and more hungry and tired of standing.
"Pettigrew, Peter."
A very short fat boy came up to the stool and had trouble getting on top of it. But he did, and the hat sat on his head for awhile before yelling, "GRYFFINDOR!"
Potter, James," McGonagall called.
James walked up to the hat looking pale, but smiling.
"GRYFFINDOR!", it yelled again.
James looked very happy as he went to sit by Sirius and Lily.
"Radcliff, Daniel"… "HUFFLEPUFF!"
"Rosier, Evans."
A short, but muscular boy, with buzzed black hair and beady brown eyes walked up to the stool with a scowl on his face. As the hat sat on his head, he looked around at everyone with a look that seemed to say, 'Don't laugh at me, or else!'
"SLYTHERIN!" the hat yelled, and once again the table broke into cheers for him.
Severus's palms were nearly dripping now because he knew his name would be called soon. He was very afraid that the house table wouldn't cheer for him because they thought he was too ugly or shy. Suddenly, he heard his name called.
"Snape, Severus."
Severus walked forward, shaking, feeling every eye on him. He tried not to look at anyone as he put the hat on his head.
A small voice inside the hat spoke saying, "Hmm, yes, you have a great thirst to prove yourself, very smart, and a great interest in the dark arts. But you still seem to have little confidence in yourself. I better put you in, SLYTHERIN!"
Severus quickly got over his fear as the Slytherin house table cheered for him. Severus was feeling pretty good as he walked over to the table.
He saw an empty spot next to Lucius, and went over to it.
"Can I sit here?" Severus asked timidly.
Lucius looked up at him and said, "Sure, I don't care."
Severus felt even more relieved, and Lucius introduced himself and some of his other friends at the table.
"They are Shawn Avery and Evan Rosier," Lucius said pointing out the two of them.
"I went to school with Evan, and I just met Shawn Avery," he continued.
"Hello," said Shawn and Evan together.
"What is your name again?" Lucius asked.
"Severus Snape," he replied.
"Snape," Lucius said in a tone of recognition. "Are you Thomas Snape's son?"
"No he's my Uncle," Severus replied, surprised that Lucius knew who he was. Severus also instantly liked Lucius for recognizing his Uncle's name.
"Oh, well what's your father's name then?" Lucius asked.
Severus got nervous, and didn't know whether he should tell Malfoy the truth or not. He decided he should since Lucius seemed to know a lot of people from the wizarding world.
"I don't know who my father is, I have my mother's name," Snape replied quietly.
"Oh, sorry," Lucius replied, but he didn't really sound like he was. "But you're a pureblood right?"
Severus nodded in reply.
"Well, anyway," Lucius drawled on, "are they going to give us food anytime soon? I'm starving!"
"Yeah, me too!" Evan complained.
Severus nodded in agreement also as his stomach rumbled loudly.
Emma Watson was sorted into Gryffindor, then Jacob York was sorted into Hufflepuff, and finally Sarah Zachary was sorted into Ravenclaw.
"Oh, look, it's that Muggle lover Dumbledore," Lucius said as Dumbledore stood up to give a speech.
'Lucius obviously doesn't like Muggles,' thought Severus. He never really had a problem with them, but he knew some wizards did. He wasn't going to say anything, though, since Lucius seemed to be accepting Severus.
Dumbledore stood there, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon spectacles and said, "Welcome to Hogwarts, our new students. I hope at least some of you will fill your heads with useful knowledge before graduating. Now then, I just have three words for you; food is good."
Suddenly, food appeared on the table. All sorts of food that Severus loved, and he started to fill his plate quickly.
Shawn Avery sat to the left of Severus, shoveling down food so quickly, Severus was surprised he didn't start to choke.
Shawn gave a quick grin to Severus when he saw Severus looking at him.
Severus decided to start up a conversation with him since they already had the same enemies. "You know Sirius Black, he said he stole your uniform and replaced it with his little sister's pink cloak. He was with James Potter, and they came into the same compartment and told us. They seemed like a stupid pair of oafs if you ask me."
Shawn looked furious and replied, "Your absolutely right about that!" he cried, with some food flying out of his mouth. "They're always doing stupid little pranks like that to me. Grrr!, I'll get them back. Thanks for telling me what Sirius did. Now I can tell Professor McGonagall what he did, and hopefully he will get into trouble."
"No problem," Snape replied.
All of the sudden, four ghosts came flying into the Great Hall. There were a few screams from the first years, and some of the older students laughed at them.
Severus wasn't too happy either as the scariest looking ghost came and sat down at their table.
"Those are the house ghosts," explained an older looking boy with black hair and almond-shaped eyes that were the coldest, darkest eyes Severus had ever seen. "Here is the Slytherin ghost, the Bloody Baron."
The Bloody Baron just sat there staring at them with his cold hollow eyes in response.
Severus felt a cold shiver pass through his body. He didn't really like the looks of that ghost, and Severus hoped the Bloody Baron wouldn't hang around them very much.
"My name is Lucifer Lestrange," the boy continued dully to the first years. "I'm in my second year here and can't wait to get out of this bloody school."
The first years could instantly tell that Lucifer was someone everyone, in Slytherin at least, wanted to be like. When he spoke, the first years hung onto his every word like it was gold.
"I'm Lucius Malfoy," chimed in Lucius and continued to tell all about himself and his rich, prosperous family.
Severus returned to his food, and took a piece of good looking apple pie. He peeked over at the Gryffindor table and saw Lily laughing at James and Sirius who were telling jokes, it appeared, to most of the Gryffindor table.
'Too bad she's not in Slytherin with me,' thought Severus with a sigh.
"Hello first year boys," said a stunning looking girl with short, blond curly hair and sky blue eyes. Severus, Shawn, Lucius, and Evan all turned around to see who was speaking to them. Severus saw Shawn's mouth drop open when he saw her.
"My name is Narcissa Green," she continued, pointing her finger at the two other girls standing next to her, "and these are my friends Nina Thompson and Nancy Wilkes."
Nina and Nancy were also very stunning. Nina had straight and long raven black hair that contrasted sharply with her ice-blue eyes. Nancy had an hourglass figure with short, brown curly hair and mischievous looking yellow-green eyes.
"We're second years and we call ourselves the Nazi women," Nina said with a grin.
Lucius, Shawn, and Evan looked confused, but Severus knew somewhat about the Nazi's.
The three girls sighed in frustration to Lucius's, Shawn's, and Evan's unintelligence.
"The Nazi's were like one of the most evil Muggle armies the world has ever known," Nancy said in her slight German accent.
"Yes, and they were led by the most evil and powerful Muggle dictator ever named Hitler," Narcissa added.
"Why would you name yourselves after a muggle army?" Lucius asked.
Narcissa looked at him like it was obvious and replied, "Because I'm German and so is Nancy, and plus my Grandfather was a Nazi. But the main reason is because we are evil!"
Nina and Nancy nodded in agreement, and they all grinned evilly.
Lucius looked at them like they were weird, and Severus thought they were rather strange himself. Severus really doubted that they were very evil, but time would tell him differently.
Lucius, Severus, Shawn, and Evan also met some of the older students. They met Bartholomew Thompson, a 6th year, and also Nina's brother. He had dark hair and eyes, glasses, and a rather large mole next to his nose. Severus thought Bartholomew was also somewhat odd because he kept muttering to himself under his breath something about government books and human flambé.
Severus was now very full and sleepy. He almost nodded off into his soup bowl when Levi Blane, a prefect, finally told the first years to follow him. Unfortunately, Professor McGonagall didn't forget Shawn's punishment as she walked over to take him to her office. He waved goodbye to the rest, and said, "I'll see you later."
They went down several hallways and staircases, as the pictures looked at them and whispered to one another, before they went down into the dungeons.
They came to a stone wall and Levi said, "practical jokes." He turned around to the first years and said, "This is the password, so don't forget it, or else!" he said jokingly, winking at all the first years.
The common room was dark and windowless, and decked out in green with a green rug and high back green chairs.
The girls went up to the staircase to the left, and Levi led the drowsy first year boys up the staircase to the right.
He showed Severus, Lucius, and Evan their room. The room was dark and windowless with cold stone floors and five poster beds. The canopy beds had dark green curtains around them with the Slytherin emblem on each side.
Severus saw his trunk and his owl Pirate next to a bed on the other end of the room. He went to it, and assumed Shawn's bed was next to his since nobody came to that bed.
Severus could barely see in the dark room, but managed to get his pajamas on and slip into bed. Shawn came in later, and they all asked how it went.
"Fine, she reported me to Professor Blackbeard, the head of house, who didn't give me any punishment. McGonagall went to the Gryffindor common room, and got my uniform back from Sirius. I think he got into trouble!" he added with a grin.
They all laughed, and Lucius, Evan, and Shawn told Severus more about the evils of James and Sirius. It was late when they finally all couldn't stay up another minute, and laid down in their beds.
Severus thought about what his classes would be like tomorrow until his eyes got heavy and he fell asleep.
* * * * * *
Severus woke up with a start from Evan's snoring.
He looked at his watch and saw it was 6:00 a.m. He went ahead and rolled out of bed to write his mum a quick note.
He got a piece of parchment, his quill and ink bottle from his trunk, and wrote:
Dear Mother,
I got to Hogwarts safely, and was sorted into Slytherin.
I like it here so far, and I think I've found some friends.
Their names are Lucius Malfoy, Shawn Avery, and
Evan Rosier. I hope I like all of my professors.
Love,
Severus
Severus went to his owl, Pirate, which was brown with black feathers speckled over his body.
"Wake up, Pirate," Severus whispered.
Pirate woke up and hooted softly in greeting.
" I need you to take this letter to my mum, okay," Severus whispered again as he tied the letter to Pirate's leg.
Pirate hooted again, and Severus took him down to the empty common room where there was an owl hole in the ceiling. This led to the main part of the castle so the owl could find a window to fly out of.
Severus opened the owl hole by pulling a lever on the wall, and Pirate flew up it.
Severus sighed and decided to go ahead and get ready since he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. His nerves were jangled again, and he just wanted to get his first day over with.
He always hated his first day because he usually did something to make a fool of himself, or get labeled as a nerdy know-it-all the rest of the school year. He decided, as he brushed his teeth, not to answer any of his professors' questions they might have, even though he had already read most of his schoolbooks over the summer.
Severus got his uniform on and sat in his bed, waiting for the others to get up.
Finally, the rest of them woke up and got ready, and they all walked up to the Great Hall for breakfast.
The prefects were already there chattering amongst themselves.
Severus grabbed some toast and bacon as he saw the Nazi women come in.
"Good morning, boys," Narcissa greeted cheerfully.
"Hello," they all replied groggily.
"Here is your class schedules," said a stern looking man with a scruffy black beard and mustache. He marched around the Slytherin house table handing out their schedules.
"Who is that?" Severus asked Nina who was sitting beside him.
"Oh, he's Professor Blackbeard, head of the Slytherin house, and he teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts. He may look mean, but he is nice to Slytherins," Nina replied.
"Looks like it's Transfiguration first, and, oh great, Defense Against the Dark Arts with the Gryffindors," groaned Evan.
Many owls suddenly came swooshing down through the enchanted ceiling for the mail call. Severus didn't see Pirate, but Lucius got a copy of the Daily Prophet, and some sweets from home.
Shawn eyed the sweets and asked, "Hey, Lucius, can I have a few sweets?"
"Sure, after classes," Lucius replied, picking up his copy of the Daily Prophet. "Hmm, looks like there was a murder," he started to read aloud. "'Alisha Cornwall reports that last night, September 1st, John Hayes was murdered in his office, apparently still busy at work. John Hayes worked for the Department of Mysteries, and authorities wonder if this murder was connected to his Top Secret case that he had been working on at the time. Authorities asked John's very distraught wife, Rachel Hayes, and also his friends and colleagues at the office if they knew anything about the murder. They did not, or could not, disclose that information, and so, it appears, that the Ministry will be working on trying to solve this puzzling case for awhile. Our thoughts and tears go out to John Hayes and his family. He was a trustworthy, hardworking man who will be greatly missed.'"
"Well, the Department of Mysteries is always losing their members," commented Lucius. "It's no big surprise to me."
Severus didn't really know much about the Ministry of Magic and it's many departments, but nobody knew anything about what went on in the Department of Mysteries.
"It's time to go to class," Shawn said standing up.
They all quickly finished their breakfast, and went to look for their Transfiguration classroom. After getting turned around a few times by all the many hallways and staircases, they finally found it, and ran inside right before the bell rang.
They found seats along the back row, and Severus sat next to Shawn.
"Good morning, class," said Professor McGonagall, "this is Transfiguration, and I want it made perfectly clear that there will be no fooling around in my class!"
She had them pair up (Severus paired with Shawn) and turn a porcupine quill into a needle.
By the end of class, Severus transfigured five porcipine quills into needles, and Shawn managed to transfigure two.
The students rushed to the door when the bell rang, and headed toward their next classes.
Severus was rather looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts; he might learn some new hexes.
The four of them entered the classroom where most of the Gryffindors were already in their seats. Severus saw James and Sirius sitting in the back row with Remus and Peter. Shawn apparently saw them too, and was giving them a nasty look, which they did not see as he sat down in the second row next to Severus.
Severus was getting out his books when Lily came in chatting with two other girls. One girl had rosy cheeks and brown hair put into pigtails, and the other girl was extremely thin with copper colored hair.
Lily waved at Severus when she saw him, Severus merely smiled slightly as the other two girls looked at him questionably.
"Who's that girl," Shawn asked.
"Lily Evans," Severus replied.
Shawn looked like he was about to ask another question, but Professor Blackbeard came in.
Professor Blackbeard stood straight and tall with a stern look on his dark face as he surveyed the class silently.
All the students felt uncomfortable under his piercing stare. He finally broke the silence by saying, "This is Defense Against the Dark Arts. In this class you will learn all about the terrible dark creatures and spells, and how to defend yourself against them. If you aren't a pack of idiots like I usually have to teach!"
Severus knew this class was going to be a synch since he mostly knew about all the spells and creatures already. He was suddenly quite eager to show Blackbeard that he was not an idiot!
Professor Blackbeard quickly took attendance, and then scanned the classroom again silently as if looking for some prey to pounce upon. He seemed to find it when he stared at Lily who was whispering quietly to one of her friends.
"Excuse me, Miss…" he called out suddenly.
Lily jumped in her seat at suddenly being addressed.
"Lily Evans," she replied timidly.
"Miss Evans, tell me," he went on gruffly, "how do you repel red caps?"
Severus turned around to Lily who looked very confused and nervous. Severus knew the answer, but he knew Lily wouldn't, and so did Professor Blackbeard it appeared. Severus thought it was a bit mean for Professor Blackbeard to pick on Lily only because she was talking.
"I…I don't know, sir," she replied stuttering.
"Hmm, well let's try again, shall we," Blackbeard said again smirking. "How do you perform a charm powerful enough to keep a Lethifold from smothering you?"
Severus decided to break his promise he told himself that morning, and rose his hand to try and save Lily from more embarrassment.
"I don't know, sir," she said again with her voice cracking and her face blushing as red as her hair.
"Well, it's obvious you should spend more time listening to me instead of gossiping with your friends. This is not a common room, ten points from Gryffindor!" Professor Blackbeard snapped.
He turned to Severus, who still had his hand up and said, "Well, let's see if this young man has any brains. What is the answer?" he asked Severus.
Now Severus felt embarrassed at being put on the spot. 'This is what I tried to avoid,' he thought, but he had to say something.
"The Patronus charm," Severus replied.
"Ahh, there does seem to be some brains after all," Professor Blackbeard said, looking at Severus and grinning slightly.
Severus couldn't help but feel a burst of pride at Blackbeard's appraisal.
"Now then, Mr.…"
"Severus Snape,"
"Mr. Snape, would you please switch seats with Miss Evans's friend since she cannot seem to keep her mouth shut, and since she apparently will need help in order to pass my class," Professor Blackbeard said.
Severus and Lily's friend with the pigtails (her name was Charlotte) gathered their bags and switched seats. Charlotte didn't look too happy about moving as Severus passed by her, and neither did Shawn. Severus didn't really care, though, except that he had to sit closer to the pair of those Gryffindor showoffs.
Lily looked like she was about to cry as Severus took his new seat. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he just grinned slightly instead, which didn't seem to help.
"Now, let that be a lesson to all of you that I will tolerate no talking of any sort in my classroom," Professor Blackbeard said sharply. "Let us begin our lesson. Turn to page 10..."
The rest of the class period he talked about redcaps and would call on Severus to answer his questions. Severus felt uncomfortable about this, but proceeded to give the correct answers for every question. At least he gained Slytherin 20 points by the end of class, but felt sorry for Lily who looked glum the rest of the period.
Finally, the bell rang, and Severus said a quick goodbye to Lily, who nodded sadly in response. He walked over to his friends and they walked to the Great Hall together for lunch.
"I feel sorry for you," Lucius said to Severus, "having to sit next to that Gryffindor girl. I bet she was a Muggle too. She had that look about her."
Severus felt a twinge of anger at Lucius's words, but decided not to say anything except, "Yeah."
"Plus, I have to sit by Charlotte who just sat there doodling all period. I bet she'll be a really smart partner when I need one," said Shawn sarcastically.
"So, Severus, how did you know so much about the dark arts?" Lucius asked.
"I, er…studied a lot of books on them just because I was bored and had nothing better to do," Severus replied.
"Wow, I didn't even know that much stuff about the dark arts," Lucius said sounding impressed.
From then on whenever Lucius, Shawn, or Evan needed help with homework they asked Severus for help. Severus didn't mind though. It gave him a place within the group and certainly more respect. For the first time in his life, Severus felt like he belonged to a group of real friends.